Polly's People: Former Coast Guard cadet has fond memories of Danmark

Polly Stramm/For the Savannah Morning News Jim Hill looks through a thick journal he wrote for his grandson, Andrew Ruse. The journal includes memories of his time aboard the Danmark in the 1940s and his long career at Union Camp Corp. (or Union Bag as he knew it).

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Jim Hill has been telling his four children about his daring adventures on the tall ship, the Danmark, all their lives.

So far, only son Jimmy has been able to go aboard the ship with his dad. They went five years ago when the spectacular sailing ship visited Washington, D.C., and Jim was presented a proclamation by the Danish ambassador.

But this morning Jim’s three daughters will have the opportunity to see the ship up close and personal when they head down to River Street with their 88-year-old dad, who sailed on the ship as a young cadet at the United States Coast Guard Academy. Daughters Mary Anne Hill, Katharine Ruse and Helen Waters are looking forward to accompanying their dad for his stroll down memory lane.

Those memories include time spent on the flying jib, lighting a coal-burning stove for the first time and perilous duty in the chain locker. The flying jib, which is the foremost part of the ship, was one of Jim’s sailing stations, he said.

“Had I lost my balance and fallen in the water, the ship would’ve run over me,” he recalled with much animation.

Another scary moment came the first time he was told to light the ship’s stove.

“One morning I was assigned (the task of) getting the galley stove started (before everyone else was up) so that breakfast could be cooked on time,” he said. “It was coal fired and I finally got the blamed thing going.”

The worst assignment, by far, was the chain locker. “On the Danmark two men (guess who?) physically got into the locker (a cubby hole) and had to move the links (of the anchor chain) back and forth so that they would not pile up in the middle. Did I mention that there was only one manhole in and out and God help the man who allowed the chains to pile up between him and the escape hole.”

Jim is a native of Augusta but has lived in Savannah since 1950. He earned a scholarship to Vanderbilt University but was talked into applying to the Coast Guard Academy by a good buddy at what was then known as the Junior College of Augusta.

“My best friend Chubby had taken the Coast Guard Academy examination and had not passed and he kept after me to take it,” Jim recalled. “I didn’t know anything about the Coast Guard at all.”

Jim took the examination and passed with flying colors. Chubby, meanwhile, went to medical school.

“Feeling certain that, at some point, I would be inducted into one of the Armed Services, I accepted the appointment and relinquished the scholarship to Vanderbilt,” Jim said.

Jim arrived in New London, Conn. — home of the academy — on July 3, 1942, about three weeks shy of his 19th birthday. The following day he was one of about 300 cadets who began training on the Danmark, which during World War II was on loan to the United States from Denmark.

“The first shock, I guess,” Jim recalled, “was having to sleep in a hammock and finding a way to get into it. The next morning at reveille, we had to take the hammock down, roll it up and put it in the hammock locker. After a while that hammock was very comfortable.”

Jim spent nearly two summers on the Danmark and served several years in the Coast Guard after earning an engineering degree from the academy. He received another degree from Georgia Tech and returned to Augusta while hoping to be hired by General Electric in New York. But, he said, it was a good thing he didn’t hear from G.E. right away because his future wife, Claudine, moved into the house right next door.

While at Tech, Jim was recruited by Union Bag and Paper Corp. in Savannah and began a long and distinguished career at the Savannah plant. Through his years at Union Bag, which later became Union Camp and now is International Paper, Jim traveled extensively and was one of the first three employees named to the Union Camp Hall of Fame.

A few years ago, Jim was asked by his grandson, Andrew Ruse, to write down his memories of his years both in the Coast Guard and at Union Bag. Jim obliged his grandson’s request and wrote (in long hand) page after page of memories, resulting in three thick journals that are an irreplaceable treasure for his family.

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I drove to Savannah to see and tour this great sailing ship and it was well worth the trip.

Everyone who was on River Street when the Danmark departed was treated to a spectacle. As the ship pulled away and headed west towards Ocean Terminal the cadets climbed up the ropes and took their positions up and down the three masts. Then, the ship came about and headed east up the channel with all the sails unfurled. What a sight!!! And the female cadets climbed the ropes right up to the top of the masts with their make counterparts...didn't see ANY slackers. What an exit!!

What an adventure those kids are having!! I know one day they'll be telling their kids about their experiences as Mr. Hill has.